RealtyTrac Foreclosure Map: 4/08 (Image Source: RealtyTrac)
According to RealtyTrac, while foreclosure activity across the U.S. increased 4 percent from March to April (and is up almost 65 percent on a year-over-year basis), activity decreased slightly in both Nevada (home to the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate) and California (which sports the nation’s second highest foreclosure rate) on a month-over month basis.

Despite a 5 percent month-over-month decrease in foreclosure activity in April, Nevada continued to document the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate. One in every 146 Nevada households received a foreclosure filing in April, 3.6 times the national average, and the state’s foreclosure activity was up 95 percent from April 2007.

California posted the second highest state foreclosure rate in April, with one in every 204 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Foreclosure filings were reported on 64,683 California properties in April, down [0.04] percent from the previous month but still the most of any state and an increase of 112 percent from April 2007.

That being said, the number of homes that were actually foreclosed upon (versus foreclosure “activity”) increased 11% in California from March (14,025) to April (15,567).
And six California cities ranked in the top 10 (in terms of foreclosure rates) among the 230 metropolitan areas tracked by RealtyTrac: Merced (#1), Stockton (#2), Modesto (#3), Riverside-San Bernardino (#4), Vallejo-Fairfield (#6) and Bakersfield (#8).
Foreclosure Activity Increases 4 Percent In April [RealtyTrac]

35 thoughts on “Foreclosure “Activity” Dips Slightly In California (But Foreclosures Up)”
  1. Reading the full release is actually fairly telling (in that they indicated that the only reason the reported rates weren’t higher was because the courts couldn’t keep up with all the filings, a rather important point to note)…
    [Editor’s Note: While we don’t doubt it, and perhaps we simply need another cup of joe, we can’t find any reference to this fact in the release. Please feel free to set us straight.]

  2. Why is this on this site? There are virtually no foreclosures in the city (at least not the “real” SF). So this “news” is not relevant to this site. If you want doom-and-gloom, go visit patrick.net

  3. There was 869 Alvarado that was scheduled to be auctionned (in the “real” SF that is upper Noe, or is it too far from 24th and Noe to still be considered SF?)
    I don’t know if this one actually went through, though. Anybody went to the auction yesterday?

  4. “There was 869 Alvarado that was scheduled to be auctionned (in the “real” SF that is upper Noe, or is it too far from 24th and Noe to still be considered SF? ”
    Lots of SF properties have been scheduled to be foreclosed. And lots of SF properties were scheduled to be foreclosed five years ago too — in nice areas, bad areas, whatever. It happens. There are a million stories why. What’s also a constant is that there are one or more groups working behind the scenes to prevent the foreclosures from happening.

  5. Re: “What’s also a constant is that there are one or more groups working behind the scenes to prevent the foreclosures from happening.”
    Until there aren’t.

  6. What’s also a constant is that there are one or more groups working behind the scenes to prevent the foreclosures from happening.
    Do you mean 1 – people will buy a property just for the purpose of not letting it go into foreclosure? Or 2 – investors snapping up good deals? Or 3 – Lenders finding a last minute agreement in order to avoid the financial/psychological shock behing a forclosure? Any other reasons?

  7. What’s also a constant is that there are one or more groups working behind the scenes to prevent the foreclosures from happening.
    Do you mean 1 – people will buy a property just for the purpose of not letting it go into foreclosure? Or 2 – investors snapping up good deals? Or 3 – Lenders finding a last minute agreement in order to avoid the financial/psychological shock behind a foreclosure? Any other reasons?

  8. Fronzi,
    4. None of the above.
    The borrower finds a way to salvage the loan, make it current, restructure the debt, or sell the property or any combination thereof. People are resourceful under duress.
    You keep bringing up 869 Alvarado like it’s a particularly significant a property in Noe would go into NOT. It’s not. It’s something that happens from time to time, citywide. And again, $1.5m for a total fixer at auction is really big bucks. That’s even though the attic and lower floor square feet represent another 1500 feet not in the tax records.

  9. Yes, but what’s the latest on 869 Alvarado? Sure its a single data point, but somewhat relevant in this context.

  10. OK, I just found out the latest. The sale has been postponed a month, to 6/13. The bank wouldn’t do that unless it’s likely the borrower will be able to do one of the things I mentioned above, in fairly short order.

  11. Actually, I should rephrase that. Lenders/banks will not postpone foreclosures unless they get proof that the borrower can do something to satisfy the debt.

  12. 869 Alvarado is undoubtedly worth more than the 1.475M loan to someone with the right skills. As you mention, the attic and lower floor can be probably reclaimed, ans the lot is big.
    I was raising the question to know if anyone had an update. I usually can’t attend the auctions at the time they’re set up.
    You’re very detailed oriented, therefore you’ll understand why this specific situation can be interesting. It’s a desireable neighborhood.

  13. I told you the update.
    But you also were flippant when you said:
    “(in the “real” SF that is upper Noe, or is it too far from 24th and Noe to still be considered SF?)
    I took that to mean this is some sort of special occurrence, to be given more weight than someone in Oceanview falling into NOT. Is that not what you meant?
    And I seem to recall you denying that the property had extra, capturable square footage before. In the other thread you said stuff like, “lost me there. 1920sf would make it a 1800+/sf property.
    and “I forgot, there is the “good developer” thing. Good to have friends”

  14. 755 Marina Blvd, 4157 square foot house, foreclosed, sold for $1.857 million on 3/12/2008
    1769 Lombard St. 3338 square foot multi-family, foreclosed, sold for $1.351m on 3/12/2008
    Both in the coveted Marina/Cow Hollow neighborhood. I wouldn’t have thought deals like this existed in a neighborhood where properties apparently fly off the shelves at hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking. The information is all on PropertyShark for those who are interested. If there is some inside scoop here I’m missing, please enlighten me. Is that real enough for you?

  15. I told you the update.
    Thanks.
    Next, I used irony. I enjoy seeing people saying “Real” SF as if they lived in a gated world with only rich people around them. What happens outside this rosy world does have an impact in the protected areas.
    And I seem to recall you denying that the property had extra, capturable square footage before. In the other thread you said stuff like, “lost me there. 1920sf would make it a 1800+/sf property.
    Depending at what cost, and for what kind of market price. I questioned your 3.5M as too high.
    Take the gorgeous former Droubi place at 24th and Castro next to Barney’s. They did try to sell it for around 3.5M but had to lower the asking price until it sold for 2.5-2.6 (I couldn’t find the actual price) for a 3000sf+ place on a wide lot.
    If you can manage to extract an extra 1500sf for 600K or less, 1.475M is definitely interesting. You’d come ahead by 300K+ if you can sell for 2.5M.

  16. I’m not sure what your point is, K10. If you don’t know the history it’s all pretty meaningless. There are a million stories all over the city. Good neigbhorhood, bad neighborhood. Whatever. Fifteen or so a week are slated. Few actually sell. But hey, sometimes they do.
    Looks like both those properties were owned by the same woman. She borrowed very heavily against the properties and ultimately lost them. Did she get sick? Did she lose her job? Who knows? Neither look like Alt-A or ARM resets tho, and that’s what the graphic is supposed to be about.

  17. Why is this on this site? There are virtually no foreclosures in the city (at least not the “real” SF). So this “news” is not relevant to this site. If you want doom-and-gloom, go visit patrick.net
    Rising property values in SF was one of the major factors that originally drove prices up in the surrounding areas (i.e., SF became too expensive, forcing people to Oakland. Then Oakland became too expensive, forcing people to Vallejo, etc.).
    It is only a matter of time before values in SF proper are impacted by falling values in the surrounding areas.

  18. “If you can manage to extract an extra 1500sf for 600K or less, 1.475M is definitely interesting. You’d come ahead by 300K+ if you can sell for 2.5M.”
    That was why it was going to be interesting if they actually lost it, but they didn’t. The Droubi property had issues of its own and was situated in a commercial corridor.
    I don’t want to get into irony versus sarcasm or break down your points … as if Alvarado and Diamond is somehow worse than 24th and Noe … not sure what your meaning was. I just understood you were trying to be flippant.

  19. For someone eager to point out details, I see a lot of “whatever” and “stuff happens” today. You are quick to point out precise examples as a proof of your point but sometimes stay pretty vague when others use precise points to counter your points.
    Is denial being replaced by bargaining already?

  20. For those interested, the Fed has now mapped the entire nation by mortgage type at the county level. Well, FirstAmerican mapped it, but the Fed put it up.
    http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/
    San Francisco stats as of January 2008:
    Foreclosure levels low compared to the nation at .5 per thousand. Subprime mortgages are low compared to the nation at only 2.4%.
    However, as many have pointed out before, 65% of current mortgages are ARMs. 37% of those reset in the next 12 months, and a nearly equal percent have been late in the last 12 months. 45% were low doc/no doc (i.e. Alt-A).
    [Editor’s Note: It was bound to happen: Subprime And Alt-A Statistics By County: The Feds Mortgage Map.]

  21. “For someone eager to point out details, I see a lot of “whatever” and “stuff happens” today”
    Huh?
    What’s your point though? That the symptoms are spreading to even the good areas, or something? That Noe Valley isn’t as expensive as it was last year? What?
    869 Alvarado and the Flora Ng properties are examples of borrowers who leveraged properties for over nearly a million, or over a million. They aren’t ARM reset casualties. OK?

  22. I just don’t get how a sprinkling of random foreclosures in real SF amounts to anything more than … a sprinkling of random foreclosures. Divorce, death, imprisonment, medical catastrophe, there’s a long list of potential reasons for this and they don’t amount to any kind of trend or impending calamity. They just don’t.
    And that’s coming from a life-long RE bear (the last time I tried to buy any kind of RE was in Boston in 1998).

  23. editor/socketsite… apologies, it was actually in the CNBC piece (http://biz.yahoo.com/cnbc/080514/24615625.html):
    …Alright, so what about all the reports that borrowers are being helped, and all those programs to find and refi borrowers, and what about the word from some other sources that foreclosure numbers are actually dipping?
    Well here’s a disconcerting answer: Apparently the system, that is whatever court or clerk or local bureaucratic office is stuck with recording all this stuff, is stressed. In Ohio, for example, I’m being told that it can take two to six months to get your filings in the system.
    “In states like Michigan, we’re hearing from some of the trustees who actually do the foreclosures that the lenders have asked them to slow down because they don’t want to process any more into a market that won’t absorb the properties back through sales,” says Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac.
    In Florida, a St. Lucie County court actually added a night shift to handle the massive backlog of foreclosure filings. The clerk of the courts was quoted as saying the caseload has become, “just horrendous.” The court used to handle about forty filings per month…

  24. “755 Marina Blvd, 4157 square foot house, foreclosed, sold for $1.857 million on 3/12/2008”
    Can someone confirm this? I don’t believe it – if it were true, the buyer got a terrific deal and we should all be jealous.

  25. “Can someone confirm this? I don’t believe it – if it were true, the buyer got a terrific deal and we should all be jealous.”
    Ha, ha, ha. Never catch a falling knife. And the knife has barely left the kitchen table. Enjoy the ride!

  26. “Ha, ha, ha. Never catch a falling knife. And the knife has barely left the kitchen table. Enjoy the ride!”
    You have no idea what you’re saying. None.

  27. I cannot confirm it. One tool I use, a title search tool, shows the owner is Yosemite Management LLC and that they recorded 3/12. Another tool I use is a foreclosure search tool, and it shows that the property is in preforeclosure as of 3/13.
    There was litigation between the two parties a month ago. Whether or not this is ongoing I do not know.
    Regardless, this is not somebody losing a house due to issues depicted in the illustration above. We don’t know the backstory. But this is an individual with a significant real estate portfolio and (at least at one point) lots of capital.
    And @ meananon. Not only did you not know what you were saying in your “falling knife” comment, no. Beyond that, you said “ha ha ha” about somebody maybe losing her home — a home that was marketed in January for $5.6M — to a real estate holding corporation for $1.857M. That is so unbelievably mean spirited and lame.

  28. Ah fluj, it’s interesting how when things where going up the profits being made were entirely due to the individual genius of the real estate investor and anyone who didn’t hop on board was just a moron who didn’t get it. And now that things are going down “we are all in this together”.

  29. “Ah fluj, it’s interesting how when things where going up the profits being made were entirely due to the individual genius of the real estate investor and anyone who didn’t hop on board was just a moron who didn’t get it.”
    I only started posting here in the past year or so. So despite the “ahh fluj” your archness is directed elsewhere, I suppose?

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